How to launch games on Itch.io and become Top seller
itch.io is great for selling adult games and getting new Patreon subscribers.
Success on itch.io consists of a win-win-win relationship with players and the platform.
Win-Win-Win
- The itch.io platform must make money: So keep Itch's Revenue Share at 10% or more. Prioritize paid games, even if it's an older version than the one on Patreon. I don't recommend free games, as the platform's algorithm favors paid games. Don't direct users to Patreon, Steam, Discord, Twitter, and any other websites before they purchase the game. You can do this after they buy.
- Players must be satisfied: offer an appropriate price for the game content. Players should feel like the game deserves 5 stars after playing it.
- You must win, so try to optimize your sales on itch.io.
The algorithms
itch.io has several algorithms and I will give an overview of each of them
- Popular: Games with many downloads
- New & Popular: Games with many downloads that have been recently released or updated.
- Top sellers: games selling many paid copies.
- Top Rated: games with many positive reviews accumulated.
- Recommended for you: games with similar tags to the one you have been playing.
- Sales: Games on sale
- Bundle: Games on bundle
How to stand out in the algorithm: Have a paid game, on sale, with a bundle, with a Goal, with a fair price (it can be from $1 to $15), good reviews and tags with high visibility.
To activate successful marketing, an initial visibility boost will be needed to be pushed to the top of the algorithms. Being at the top of the algorithms, you have a high chance of being in a situation of perpetual success, in which your success generates more success.
The most visible Tags
Using SEMrush I deduced that these are the top 29 tags with the most traffic on Itch.io in the USA, UK, Canada, France and Germany. These are the countries that buy the most paid games on Itch.
Select the top 10 that make sense for your game:
- adult
- hentai
- nsfw
- horror
- visual novel
- dating-sim
- porn
- futa
- erotic
- character-customization
- fnaf
- romance
- incremental
- virtual-reality
- rogue-like
- rhythm
- incest
- lgbt
- eroge
- gay
- traps
- breast expansion
- netorare
- 2d
- 3d
- tentacles
- furry
- bara
The most visible genres
The 3 genres with the most visibility, analyzed by SEMrush:
- Simulation
- Visual Novel
- RPG
Downloads and versions
I recommend having versions for Windows, Android, Mac and Linux hosted directly on the itch website, as it will offer the best user experience.
Metadata
Fill in the game's meta data to help with the catalog search engine
Page, Screenshots, gifs and description
I recommend getting inspired by my page https://oppaiman.itch.io/forbidden-fantasy-chapter-1
- Banner 2000x2000 px
- First 2 screenshots are gifs at 12 FPS
- Various screenshots
- Comments area that allows you to see many comments at once.
- Customize the favicon
- No trailers
- No demos.
- Clean description, without directing the user to Discord, Patreon, Steam or any other site that could distract them from purchasing from Itch.io (after all, our success depends on Itch.io winning first)
Request in-game reviews
Itch's algorithms take into account whether your game has positive reviews.
At some positive point in the game, I recommend asking the user to give a review using URLs like these:
https://oppaiman.itch.io/forbidden-fantasy-chapter-1/rate?source=game
https://oppaiman.itch.io/forbidden-fantasy-chapter-1/comments
But ask for an honest review.
Discounts and Bundles
Itch io generates extra visibility for games with discounts and bundles.
So I recommend doing them frequently with at least 10%.
Configure the discount and bundle with a goal, as they tend to generate even more visibility.
If you know another gamedev with a game similar to yours, create a co-op bundle to generate even more visibility.
Steam Keys
If possible, offer Steam Keys and let users know on the store page. Users love Steam keys.
Visibility Boost created by yourself
The Itch algorithm gives you more visibility if you get a visibility boost for your game.
If you already have a community, it's important to announce your launch on itch io on:
- Patreon
- Discord
- Itch Devlog, Post and Email
- Steam Cross Promotion
Once you get good initial visibility, the algorithm will reward you by giving you more visibility on itch io.